Does adding a blood test to CT help identify more lung cancers? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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CT scanning is used to screen for many lung cancers, with a new study finding that adding a simple blood test to the scan helps both find lung cancers and reduce the number of tests needing follow up. William Nelson, director of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, describes the findings.

Nelson: What they did was identify four different things they could measure in the blood circulation. They would aid in predicting who might be at risk to get lung cancer. They did this panel, they called it 4MP, four marker protein panel, in almost 1300 blood specimens, preceding a lung cancer diagnosis. What they argued in the end is that if you combine this blood test along with the CT scanning, the blood test made for more sensitivity, more likely to detect a cancer if it was present.  :32

About 9% more lung cancers were found using this method while 13% fewer false positives were seen. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.